GREENFIELD — Finding funeral services and pricing for cremation or a burial, along with gathering all the details to care for a deceased loved one, can be a difficult task.
That’s where the Greenfield-based Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts and its biennial Price Comparison Table comes in. The alliance recently released its pricing guide for 2026, a comprehensive tool designed to aid residents in comparing different burial and cremation prices.
Jim Couchon, president of the alliance, mentioned some prices have remained static since the last guide was released in 2024, but one area that has been inching up is the basic services fee, which helps funeral homes cover the costs of lighting, heating and insurance.
“Even if the cremation of burial prices may be low, it is those add-on services that make the price jump up,” Couchon noted.
Two key pricing points that the Price Comparison Table sorts out is the price range of direct cremation, which can vary from $1,495 to $5,245 (not including service fees), and immediate burial pricing, which can range anywhere from $1,795 to $5,795 (also not including service fees). The table can be found at funeralconsumerswmass.org/2026-price-comparison-table.
According to its mission statement, the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts wants to “promote and protect a consumer’s rights to choose meaningful, dignified and affordable final arrangements.”
“You get to define what is respectful and dignified for you and your loved one,” Couchon said. “If you are more interested in the ambiance of the funeral home, that may be important to you and your loved one; perhaps you want a more private setting so you may go with something a little more subtle, with less cost involved.”
He added that more funeral homes are putting their pricing options on their websites, as “the younger generation is coming more into its own and young business owners want to put their prices online,” Couchon said.
Although 14 funeral homes post their pricing online, the alliance’s website fills in the missing gaps by collecting general price lists from about 96% of the funeral homes in the region. The resource also addresses if there is a medical examination fee involved, the basic service fees per funeral service, and the cost of other related goods and services.
While Couchon described people who go into the funeral business as “generally very compassionate,” with funeral services being “a calling for them,” he noted that the alliance also makes sure “funeral homes are playing by the rules set by the Federal Trade Commission.” He described the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts as “the watchdog making sure that happens.”
He added that many funeral homes in the state are corporate-owned.
“Most of the funeral homes are mom-and-pop businesses, but there is a trend toward larger corporations such as Service [Corporation] International or Milestone [Partners] coming in and buying up these funeral homes,” Couchon explained. “Eighteen out of the 81 funeral homes on our list are corporate-owned. We’ve seen these smaller funeral homes struggle to see how they’re going to stay in business.
“Some of the corporate-owned ones tend to be the pricier ones,” he added. “They’ve kept the family name and kept some of the family staff on board, so it still seems like it’s locally owned even though it’s corporate.”
The alliance’s report points out that the funeral home’s website must state if it is corporate-owned, aiding in consumer transparency.
“We’re helping the consumer find a way to make their best choices and for them to have the information to make their own decisions,” Couchon said.
Over the past few years, he said the alliance has noticed a trend toward people “reclaiming their rights to design their own services.”
“You as the consumer are in charge of how things are done,” Couchon said. “It’s important for the grieving process to have a stake in planning for the individual.”
The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts is donation-based and consists of a small group of volunteers. More information is available at funeralconsumerswmass.org or by calling 413-376-4747.